Why Frank Burns left MASH so suddenly ?
Neil J
one day, and not there the next.
I am aware Larry Linville left to do other things, but was his character
written out over some episodes or was it as sudden as I seem to recall it ?
Did his spit the dummy over something ?
No doubt the phone calls to Potter from Japan didn't involve Linville ...
I would appreciate a response to be send cc to my email address, which is
neiljenkins*removethis*@optushome.com.au ... and obviously you need to
remove the bits between (and including) the asterisks.
Thanks in anticipation.
Neil.
Andreas Helm
Hi Neil,
The story is as follows (taken from Suzie Kalter's Complete Book of
M*A*S*H): Larry Linville (like the other actors) had a contract over 5
years. After year 5, he did not renegotiate his contract and said he
would leave the show, because he did not want to be typecast as the
whiny bad-guy as Frank was. Since he did not return for a send off in
the next season, the authors had to find a way to explain his
departure, therefore the story of his holiday and then going nuts.
Hope this explains it.
Helmi
------
Andreas Helm
http://pages.at/helmi
AOHELL actually
>Date: 02/18/2002 9:41 AM
>The story is as follows (taken from Suzie Kalter's Complete Book of
>M*A*S*H): Larry Linville (like the other actors) had a contract over 5
>years. After year 5, he did not renegotiate his contract and said he
>would leave the show, because he did not want to be typecast as the
>whiny bad-guy as Frank was. Since he did not return for a send off in
>the next season, the authors had to find a way to explain his
>departure, therefore the story of his holiday and then going nuts.
>
>Hope this explains it.
>
> Helmi
With all due respect to Ms. Kalter, and with the understanding that doing a
book on MASH is a HUGE undertaking, the best part of her book are the photos.
There are LOTS of errors in there.
Whether LL felt that way or not, in a TV interview, he said that he had taken
Frank Burns as far as it could go.
Eddie
======================================
"We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail"
George Dubya Bush
Gumbo ...
actually) wrote:
>>With all due respect to Ms. Kalter, and with the understanding that doing a
>>book on MASH is a HUGE undertaking, the best part of her book are the photos.
>>There are LOTS of errors in there.
>>
>>Whether LL felt that way or not, in a TV interview, he said that he had taken
>>Frank Burns as far as it could go.
>>
>>Eddie
To also add... LL also said he was sick of how Frank Burns part on the
show was getting smaller and smaller... Burns was just used as a quick
laugh and then he was off-camera... Nothing involved him anymore and
he also felt since Margaret was married. That whole side of him was
over as well...
Barrie
>book on MASH is a HUGE undertaking, the best part of her book are the photos.
>There are LOTS of errors in there
I know. I was just reading it today (for the first time), and my mom kept
commenting on all the mistakes. I agreed with her, and even found some that she
didn't, but also said that it must be hard to create a perfect book about the
perfect TV show. You're right though, the best part is the pictures, and also
the interviews.
Abyssinia,
Barrie
"All I know is what they taught me at command school. There are certain rules
about a war and rule number one is young men die. And rule number two is
doctors can't change rule number one." -- Lt. Col. Henry Blake
Andreas Helm
I don't want to argue about the quality of book...
But I guess the interviews are correct, and the fact of not
renegotiating his contract and not returning for a farewell episode
comes from the interview by Larry Linville himself, so I guess this
should be correct.
Helmi
m...@my.house
Helm) wrote:
having never read any book on mash i'd like to say and maybe i'm wrong
but frank got a royal *&^%$ by the writers as compared to hotlips. she
was transformed from the venom spitting-backstabbing **^% of early
episodes to the best buddy the doctors had practically by the shows
end. she was the one that always wanted the 'guys' courtmartialed
and she'd do the talking for both of them. franks character was
stagnant the entire time.
Neil J
character in the series and me thinks might have suffered from his 15
minutes of fame.
<m...@my.house> wrote in message
news:htc77u4e7vi36ebt1...@4ax.com...
ncrdbl1
But it would seem logical that the entire Margret's marriage story line was to explain Frank's leaving the show. If not they would not have goner and had her get divorced in season 7. Season 6 was setting the groundwork for their divorce.
As far as Franks himself. He was always a symbol of Americana, pro army , pro law and order. Making him a buffoon was intentional as a way to take a slap at what was seen as main stream America. This was during an era where CBS had taken a very large step to the left with it's programing. Soon after they, as Pat Buttram said, cancelled everything with a tree.
Andy K.
zepa...@gmail.com wrote:
> Possibly no one is interested in this subject anymore.
That's impossible. :)
> But being a fan of MASH and enjoying it so much in reruns the question
> of how Larry felt about the Frank Burns character was/is of interest to
> me. It seems that his character was the only one that never got the
> chance to develop.
Big part of why Frank Burns worked so well was that he was a pretty
one-dimensional character. If there was any character development that
would make him more human, the character, in my opinion, wouldn't work,
as he wouldn't be very interesting anymore.
I think Larry Linville played the character with this in mind, going
full throttle on Frank's surreal, almost caricature-like traits in every
single scene. And that's great, considering the results - to a lot
of people, including me, Frank Burns is one of the most memorable and
amusing characters on TV, to this day.
Still, they managed to add layers to (initially also very
one-dimensional) Hotlips Houlihan and made her into an actual human
being, and an interesting one at that. So who knows, perhaps all it
would have taken was one good writer with a cool idea for Frank.
BR,
--
AndyK
foxofth...@gmail.com
For example, without Diane Chambers Sam Malone would have never made it out of the minor league.
Alan Harper to Charlie Harper in Two & Half Men.
And certainly not least among MASH stars were the writers who gave such memorable lines to all the characters.
F0X
sharon...@gmail.com
Will Dockery
>
> There is a formula of sorts to make a show successful. A blend of character personalities. Of LL had not of played Frank, someone else would have. As in life, the people would rotate and getting an arrogant character from Boston was a refreshi g choice.
thegreate...@gmail.com
> Thanks in anticipation.
>
> Neil.